Process of producing alkali carbonitrid.



s. PEAOUGK.

PROCESS OF PRODUGI'NG ALKALI GARBONITRlD. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 7, 1912.-

1,129,510, Patented Feb.23, 1915.

1 /6 v aim/W6 SAMUEL PEACOCK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNATIONAL AGRICUL- TURAL CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y. A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PROCESS 0 v PRODUCING ALKALI CARBONITRID.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

Application filed September 7, 1912. Serial No. 719,157.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL PEACOCK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State -0f Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Producing Alkali Carbonitrid; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention'relates to aprocess of pro- I du'eing alkali carbo-nitrids from alkali oxids invention consists in the novel steps constituting myprocess more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification in which the figure is a diagrammatic view of a 'furna-ce suitable for carrying out my process, 1. indicates any suitable furnace walls but preferably of refractor material having a carborunduni lining 2, and a metal casing 3.

4 indicates a water jacket surroundin a lower extension of the casing 3, and ocated within the chamber 5 of thebase brick work 6. 7 represents inlet and exit pipes for the water supplied. to the water jacket; 8, 9 and 10 represent electrodes for passing a suitable current through the charge 11; 12 suit-able gas tight pipes for feeding the charge to the furnace; 13 an inlet pipe for the gaseous nitrogen or producer gas that is fed to the furnace; and l-i a suitable connection with a manometer for indicating the pressure of gas inside the furnace.

15 indicates a suitable means for discharging the finished product through the exit 16, closed by any suitable means not shown. 17 represents a hand wheel for ad justing one of the electrodes, 18 a stuffing box, 19 an orifice for facilitating access to the top of the furnace, and 20 a pipe for drawing oil the furnace gases.

In carrying out my processl prepare a charge of finely divided carbon and alkali oxids such as K 0 and Na,O suitably proportioned, preferably briquet the same, and

out in introduce the briquets through the feed pipes 12. Unless the charge is briqueted considerable difiiculty is liable to be experienced in maintaining an efficient atmosphere of nitrogen in all parts of the furnace. And since the carbo-nitrid is formed at the instant the said oXids are reduced, unless a suflicient supply of nitrogen is present, .a lower carbid may form, which will not dissociate to form the desired carbo-nitrids all as will presently appear. Gaseous nitrogen, or preferably producer gas is introduced through the pipe 18, current is turned on and the temperature is raised to substantially 1700" 0., whereupon the following reaction takes place supposing potas sium oxid K 0 to be used:

Should an insuliicient proportion of nitro gen be present, instead of the carbid K C being converted into the carbo-nitrid form, it may dissociate to a lower carbid such as .IQC which does not fix nitrogen as a carbonitrid. Furtlier by briqueting the charge not only is a uniform distribution of nitrogen assured, but there is secured a uniform fiow of gas, which avoids channeling; further briqueting also tends to prevent or lessen the volatilization of the compounds formed.

After the potassium carbo nitrid K N .C,N, is formed in the high tempera ture zone between the electrodes, it passes down by gravity out of said zone to the lower part of the furnace, where it is gradu. ally cooled by'the water jacket l in an atmosphere of nitrogen, or producer gas, as the case maybe. From this latter position it is continuously removed from the furnace by the conveyor 15, and since the ma terial is constantly fed in at the top, the

process is a continuous one. Of course, any other suitable type of furnace than the one illustrated may be employed.

Either nitrogen gas or producer gas may be employed as above stated, but I prefer producer gas on account of its cheapness to. say, from the carbo-nitrid equation, above, .it is evident that for each volume of nitrogen fixed; an equal volume of carbon monoxid, CO, is liberated, and joins the furnace gases. Now when producer gas is employed, having say (30% of nitrogen and 40% of carbon 'monoxid, and it one third or 20%, of the nitrogen is fixed, it is evident that 20% of carbon monoxid will still be added to the' 407. of carbon rnonoxid already present. Accordingly the resulting mixture will contain 60 '70 of carbon monoXid instead of its original 40%. It follows, therefore, that the producer gas by In y proc-- ess is not only purified of its nitrogen but it is also enriched by a substantial addition of carbon monoxid, causing it to become a valuable by-product.

In carrying out the process in order to avoid seriously retarding the reaction it is desirable to maintain such a flow of nitrogen through the furnace that the partial pres sure of the carbon monoxid gas present will not exceed'say480 to 500 millimeters of mercury. This can be readily accomplished after determining from time to time the percentage of carbon monoxid present, and taking note of the gaseous pressure in the furnace.

The alkali Q carbo-nitrid thus produced may be used for a variety of purposes, but

I prefer to treat it with superheated steam at substantially 160 0., when the following reaction takes place Ammonia will be produced by treating the carho-nitrid with water at less temperatures, but the reaction velocity in such cases will be reduced as the temperature lowers.

The carbon-monoxid or other furnace gas may be drawn from the furnace by any suit able means, as for example through the pipe 20;

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of my process without departing from the spirit of my invention, and therefore I do not Wish to-be limited to the above disclosure except as may he required by the claims.

What I claim is 1. The process of producing alkali carbonitrids, which consists in preparing a mixture of an alkali oxid and carbon; and subjecting the same in an atmosphere containing nitrogen substantially devoid of free oxygen to a temperature sufficient to produce saidcarbo-nitrid; substantially as described. p

2. The process of producing alkali carbonitrids, which consists in preparing a mixture of an alkali oxid and carbon; forming the same into briquets; and subjecting the nitrids, which consists in preparing a mix:-

ture of an alkali OXlCl and carbon; forming the same into briquets; and subjecting the briquets in an atmosphere devoid of "tree oxygen but containing free nitrogen to a temperature suiiicient to produce said earbonitrid; substantially as described.

4E. The process of producing potassium carbo-nitrid, I l l .(I )L which consists in preparing a mixture of potassium (raid and carbon; subjecting the same in an atmosphere containing nitrogen but substantially devoid of free oxygen to a temperature suilicient to produce said carho-nitrid; a d cooling said carbo-nitrid in an inert atmosphere; substantially as described.

5. The process of producing potassium Carbdnitrid, which consists in preparing a mixture of potassium oztid and carbon; forming the same into briquets; subjecting the briquets in an atmosphere containing free nitrogen to a temperature suiiicient to produce said carbo-nitrid; and cooling said carbo-nitrid in an atmosphere containing free nitrogen; substantially as described.

6. The process of producing an alkali carho-nitrid Which-consists in ineparing mixture of an alkali oxid and carbon; and subjecting the same in an atmosphere of producer gas to a temperature surh produce said carbo-nitrid; substantia. described.

"Z. The process of producing an alkali. carbOmit-rid, which consists in preparing a mixture of an alkali oxid and carbon; subjecting the same in an atmosphere of producer gas to a temperature sufficient to produce said carbo-nitrid; and gradually cool ing sald carho-nitrid in an atmosphere inert to said carbo-i1itrids; substantially as de- SAMUEL PEACOCK.

Witnesses:

N. Ca ms LAMMOND, -T. U. Wrr'HnRsrooN. 

